Description

TQ 64 SW BRENCHLEY BRAMBLE REED LANE

5/36 Foxella

II

House. C16 or earlier origins, remodelled and extended in the circa mid C17. Framed construction, the ground floor of the front elevation underbuilt in brick, the first floor tile-hung; the rear outshut weatherboarded on brick footings, the right return weatherboarded. Peg-tile roof; brick stack.

Plan: The house faces east. The original plan was a 2-cell lobby entrance arrangement, probably with a framed stack or smoke bay, larger room to the left (south) with a probably unheated service room to the north. In the C16 a brick stack was inserted. In the circa mid C17 the house was extended by a one-room plan parlour addition at the south end heated by an end stack and the roof was raised by about half a metre. A high quality heated chamber was provided over the centre room. The rear outshut may have been added at the same time. The house was divided into 3 cottages at one time. The present entrance is into the outshut at the left (south) end.

Exterior: 2 storeys and attic. Gable-ended roof, axial stack to right of centre with staggered shafts. Asymmetrical 6-window front, the brick underbuilding in 3 different sections with straight joints. Various 2-, 3- and 5-light casement windows, C19 and C20, the right hand first floor window set well below the eaves, is probably in an original C16 embrasure. Gabled attic dormer. The rear outshut has C20 small-pane casements. Recessed porch on left (south) return with a C20 timber front door.

Interior: Well-preserved carpentry, with exposed crossbeams and joists to the centre and left hand room, the details of a different character. The left hand room has runout stops to the main beam, an open fireplace, a C17 ledged door, and preserves the evidence of a 2-light mullioned window (now internal) on the rear wall. Evidence of a former stair rising against the party wall with the centre room. The centre room has a massive chamfered step-stopped crossbeam and a large open fireplace with brick jambs and an oak chamfered and step-stopped lintel. The small right hand (north) room has exposed joists, most of them appear to be re-used. The wall framing is intact down to the sole plate of the rear wall, the wall posts with flared jowls. The wall posts to the left (south) end room are taller and more smoothly-finished and are about half a metre above the others, which have been extended to the level of the C17 wall plate by a series of posts. The C17 wall plate is chamfered and scroll-stopped on either side of the tie beams. Blocked mullioned window of 3-lights on the rear (west) wall. The chamber over the centre room has an intersecting beam ceiling that extends the full width of the house. The room has been reduced in size by the introduction of a first floor passage on the long axis. The chamber has a good C17 fireplace with a chamfered lintel and C17 wall cupboards, the doors constructed out of large planks. Evidence of a former frame immediately north of the stack and mortises for former joists in the attic floor suggest that the stack is an insertion.

Roof: Tie-beam, queen strut and clasped purlin, some of the struts removed; with intermediate birdsmouth ties. The roof over the south end room is of similar design but with more slender timbers and is at a higher level.

Listing NGR: TQ6499541490

External Links

• Wikidata Q26541137

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Recommended Books

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)